Hi Everyone,
I have a 1998 Isuzu Trooper that's been going through a lot of oil lately. It has about 98,000 miles on it on a rebuilt engine. I just recently got an oil change on it about 1200 miles ago. There's no apparent leak as I can't spot any oil spots underneath the Trooper after I've parked it for an extended period. I'd say it goes through about 5 quarts every 600 miles. What could be causing this? Does an older engine just burn up that much oil?
On a related note, I was visiting a friend over the weekend and on the return trip the Oil Warning light came on after I drove over a long incline. The engine started losing power and felt like it was going to seize up. I took the next exit and made it slowly to a gas station. I popped the hood and checked the oil level. Bone dry. I bought 5 quarts of oil and filled it up. We let it sit for about 10 minutes and I turned the engine over. It sounded like it was idling fine. We let it run for about 20 minutes. I tried revving the engine up gradually. When I passed about 1200 RPMs I could detect a mid- range rattling sound coming from the engine. We tried driving around the parking lot and then proceeded out to the local street for some testing. Other than the noise it didn't seem like it was losing any power. We got back on the freeway and made it back home slowly. By the time we made it back 35 miles the rattling sound was significantly louder. I tried turning over the engine today and it's making that rattling sound. ie. TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT. Does this mean I have a busted rod in one of the cylinders?
TIA!
-Peter